Fruit Flies

County agricultural officials have asked the state to slap a quarantine on 6,400 acres of prime farmland in hopes of stopping the spread of the voracious Mexican fruit fly. State, federal and county agricultural officials have set up a command post in Valley Center and are conducting a tree-by-tree inspection in northern San Diego County after finding 45 adult flies and two larvae at sites in 14 orchards.

For three generations there's been an Erickson growing olives in the rich soil of Glenn County on the north end of the Central Valley. John Erickson fears he could be the last, all because of a very small but formidable foe: the olive fruit fly. Over the last three years the insect has hitchhiked up from its roost among the ornamental olive trees of Los Angeles and infiltrated vast portions of California's farm belt. And olive growers like Erickson don't believe enough is being done to fight it.

More live Mediterranean fruit fly larvae were found Friday in Spanish clementines in Southern California retail stores, increasing concerns that the imported citrus could wreak havoc on the state's $27-billion agriculture business.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture halted imports of clementine citrus fruit from Spain because live Mediterranean fruit fly larvae have been found in stores in California, Louisiana, Maryland and North Carolina. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service indefinitely banned the sale and distribution of the Spanish clementines in states where the pest could survive.

State agricultural officials have placed a quarantine on the movement of fruit and vegetables in southeastern San Diego County after trapping 10 Oriental fruit flies in the area. Imposed Monday, the restrictions cover a 60-square-mile swath that includes the South Bay Terraces neighborhood of San Diego and the unincorporated community of La Presa. The state is also starting a treatment program, said Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

A 59-square-mile quarantine will continue through mid-December, as agriculture officials contend with a second generation of Oriental fruit flies emerging in the zone, they announced Wednesday. The quarantine, imposed in August in an attempt to wipe out an infestation, was supposed to be lifted next month.

A small infestation of Mediterranean fruit flies has been found in Hyde Park, representing the first return of the pests to the county since 1997, state agriculture officials announced Thursday. Plans include increased releases of sterile male flies and ground treatments within an eighth of a mile of the southwest L.A. site beginning Monday and continuing at 10- to 14-day intervals for about six weeks, said Steve Lyle of the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

Five Oriental fruit flies were found in two city neighborhoods this month, officials said Friday. County officials were evaluating the need for a quarantine, which could cost local growers millions of dollars. Crews had begun applying bait and pesticide to utility poles in the hopes of killing any male flies. The yellow-striped insect, slightly larger than a common housefly, attacks hundreds of fruits, including apples, avocados, bananas, tomatoes and lemons.

After discovering Oriental fruit flies in Ontario, San Bernardino County agriculture officials are discussing possible boundaries for a quarantine area of 60 square miles, they said Wednesday. Two male Oriental fruit flies were discovered July 27 in a trap, county officials said. By Monday, traps had been set within a nine-square-mile zone, said Allen Lampman, supervisor and agricultural standards officer for the county Agriculture Department. Nine flies have been trapped so far.